Bolingbroke, who, when reminded of one of the alleged weaknesses
of Marlborough, observed,--"He was so great a man that I forgot
he had that defect."

Admiration of great men, living or dead, naturally evokes
imitation of them in a greater or less degree. While a mere
youth, the mind of Themistocles was fired by the great deeds of
his contemporaries, and he longed to distinguish himself in the
service of his country. When the Battle of Marathon had been
fought, he fell into a state of melancholy; and when asked by his
friends as to the cause, he replied "that the trophies of
Miltiades would not suffer him to sleep." A few years later, we
find him at the head of the Athenian army, defeating the Persian
fleet of Xerxes in the battles of Artemisium and Salamis,--his
country gratefully acknowledging that it had been saved through
his wisdom and valour.

It is related of Thucydides that, when a boy, he burst into tears
on hearing Herodotus read his History, and the impression made
upon his mind was such as to determine the bent of his own genius.
And Demosthenes was so fired on one occasion by the eloquence of
Callistratus, that the ambition was roused within him of becoming
an orator himself. Yet Demosthenes was physically weak, had a
feeble voice, indistinct articulation, and shortness of breath--
defects which he was only enabled to overcome by diligent study
and invincible determination. But, with all his practice, he
never became a ready speaker; all his orations, especially the
most famous of them, exhibiting indications of careful
elaboration,--the art and industry of the orator being visible in
almost every sentence.